August 27 – Island Tour/Jim and Phyllis Join us

Today we are off on our Grand Island Tour with a tour part way around Corfu.  We have a driver but not a guide…but he did do a pretty good job of filling us in on what we were seeing. 

We had a few photo stops overlooking the coastline, bays and harbors…

before arriving in Paleokastritsa.  Our first visit there was the Byzantine Monastery of the Virgin.  It is situated high on a hill.  Access is up a narrow, windy, one lane road.  Traffic on the road was controlled by a stop light…7 and a half minutes per cycle. 

The courtyards around the church were lovely and the bougainvilleas were blooming profusely. 

The interior of the church was very ornate…

and the monastery has its own olive oil business.  They had a shop peddling olive oil and all manner of kumquat products (apparently there are quite common in the area.  

They also has a massive vessel with olive oil press.

There was a lovely beach in town at the base of the hill.

We had lunch at a restaurant overlooking the small bay.  Wonderful way to enjoy a meal.  They had great French fries here.  Better than any we recently had in Brussels.

Mary and Phyllis did some shopping for cool summery tops.  It is so hot and humid here that the polyester clothing that they packed was just a bit too warm.  After the purchases Paul announced that there would be no more shopping.  Dream on.

While wandering the area we noticed and admired a small village perched high above us on a steep hillside.  After lunch we headed up the hill with a stop at a cafe for a bathroom break, views of the monastery below...

and baklava for snack.

It turned out it was our next destination was the town of Makraves that we had seen from the beach.  The object of this visit was to provide more shopping opportunities.  Much of the center of town consisted of shops peddling local products.  There were linens, clothing, objects carved from olive wood, local spices and herbs, hats and just stuff.  Phyllis admired a large bowl with a handle that was made from olive wood.  She didn’t get it.  Jim bought some spices for his son Sean.  Mary and Paul just looked.

Shortly after we left Makraves it started raining.  Hard.  We kept driving and saw some beautiful areas but didn’t get out of the car.  By the time we returned to Corfu City the rains had let up.  We all rested a bit and then walked a bit around the old town as Jim and Phyllis hadn’t yet seen it.  Then it was time for bed as we check out first thing tomorrow.


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More photos from Corfu.
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